How to vote using STV

With STV, voting is easy.

Instead of ticking the candidates you want to vote for, with STV you number the candidates in order of preference. Put a "1" beside the candidate you like best, then a "2" beside your second choice, "3" by your third choice, and so on. You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you like.

So what does the numbering do?

By giving the number "1" to a candidate, you are saying that the candidate is your number one choice.

By ranking candidates in your preferred order - 1,2,3,4 and so on - you are also saying which other candidates you prefer:

if your top choice doesn't have enough support to get in or,

if your top choice doesn't need all the votes they received to be elected.

What else do I need to know?

For your vote to be counted there just needs to be a single '1'. After that the numbers you use must be in sequence and there must be only one of each number. If you make a mistake, your vote will be valid up to when you made the error - for example, if you miss out a "4" and just rank 1, 2, 3 and 5, only your first three preferences will be valid.